Tell Us About Your Photo, Ken Goh

Cloudy Sunset

By K David in Columns on Mar 7, 2015
Tell Us About Your Photo, Ken Goh

Each month we pick a forum photographer with a stand-apart image in a non-contest thread. This article will allow the photographer to tell us a bit about their photo and themselves, providing a larger context to the image.

Kengoh submitted a breath-taking, technically-flawless, and richly colored cityscape image of Singapore in the Post Your Photos forum. Thank you, Ken, for taking part in this ongoing series and for your stunning work!

Cloudy Sunset by Ken Goh"Cloudy Sunset" by Ken Goh - Click to Enlarge

Where did you take the photo?

Along Marina Bay Sands Waterfront Boardwalk (Singapore).

What inspired you to take this photo?

As I've not been shooting for three months I decided to take some skyline shots along this area.

Did you plan your shoot ahead of time?

There are a few frames to shoot along Marina Bay Sands Waterfront Boardwalk, and this shot is one of the planned ones to capture around blue hour.

At the site, how did you set up for this shot?

I used tripod for steady shot and a three-stop ND filter for long exposure, I framed all the buildings of Singapore's Central Business District using the shortest focal length of my UWA lens.

Were there any challenges or unexpected events?

For landscapes, the challenge is the sky and cloud formation and certainly I do not wish to capture any human inside the frame which is not so easy as this is a famous public place filled with tourists and local people loitering along the boardwalk shooting and waiting for the light and water show. I'm glad that I only encountered two couples walking past and did not capture inside the frame (due to the long exposure.) The settings have to be correct right at the beginning as the blue hour is best only at the crucial few minutes (just after sunset and the beginning of twilight). As I was shooting a long exposure, I couldn't afford to make mistakes and retry.

What Pentax equipment did you use?

Pentax K-3

Did you use any non-Pentax gear (tripods, lighting, etc)?

Yes, I'm using Sigma 10-20mm F4-5.6 lens, Benro carbon fibre tripod, and Haidai ND Filters, no lighting though. I also used a third-party RF remote control for triggering the shutter.

Do you shoot raw or jpeg? If the latter, what settings do you use?

I shot at highest quality jpeg, set to Natural mode, Av setting, AWB, ISO 100, and a long exposure of 30 seconds.

What post-processing did you use?

I took two shots, stacked and merged them, corrected the horizon, verticals, and perspective distortion if any (which there's usually none of when I compose the shot.) Next I adjusted the exposure using layers and masks, spent a little effort on the clouds for their 3D look; I also removed the stretch of lighting equipment in front of the boardwalk for full water reflection.

How long have you been a photographer?

I started with my first DSLR— the Pentax K-x— in February 2010, shooting street photography initially but later developing a keen interest in landscape and nature photography. I experienced a great jump after upgrading to a K-5, especially for birding, and even better, sharper, and more accurate focusing with the K5-IIs and now K-3. I benefit even more on the increased resolution and faster fps for birding. I'm also a Getty Image Contributor (for three years) and have been selling my photos through Getty.

Where can people find you on the web?

Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/kengoh8888/

PF: http://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/members/32209-kengoh/

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